In celebration of National Women’s Month, I figured I’d highlight the OG’s (original grandmas) of popularized cooking. Popularized cooking? I said what I said. We all grew up, hopefully, getting fed by a parent or other parental figure. If you’re my age and older, chances are this was your mother, aunt, sister, or grandmother. Women have held families together by saving money making struggle meals, ensuring their children are nourished to the best of their ability, instilling a sense of creativity in their children by taking risks on a new recipe, or just ensuring the family comes together at the table to eat a meal and keep the lines of communication open. It’s not an easy feat. It became even harder when women started expanding their rightfully equal societal role into the workplace. However, it was rare that they also were able to shirk some of their domestic burdens onto someone else.
What if I told you that the first prominent female chef to have a show about French cooking was not Julia Child? I discovered this fact about a month ago when I was determining who I would cover for my Women’s Month series. I had never heard of Dione Lucas. But, she was the first female chef to graduate from Le Cordon Bleu, Paris. In fact, during the second world war, her satellite school in England was the only place you could get Cordon Bleu accredited. The reason you never heard about her is that she was very clinical in her approach to cooking; without the boisterous flair of Julia Child. Her show, To the Queen’s Taste, aired on CBS in 1947. She also had a luncheonette where she would single-handedly whip out 200 omelets in a matter of hours and a restaurant located within Bloomingdale’s in Manhattan. She may have even served Hitler? But, that could just be a tall tale.
I waited a little too long to try and find her (no-longer-in-print) The Cordon Bleu Cookbook, but I lucked out and found someone selling a copy (they picked up in an estate sale about 10 years ago) and embarked on a 4-hour road trip to go pick it up this weekend. I had to quickly peruse and pick out a recipe. Did I go off of one of the prior owner’s notes? “Good” - Vichyssoise (cold leek and potato soup); the even more tempting “No Good” (with a big X through the recipe): Poulet a la Stanley (it looked pretty good, a riff on Chicken Paprikash); or with Hitler’s supposed favorite dish she made: Petits Poussins à la Hambourg (stuffed squab). Being a bit of a history buff, this was temptingly intriguing, but I couldn’t find squab in just 12 hours’ notice. I could have gone with any of the myriad sole or egg recipes, but ultimately, chose a classic: Caneton à l’Orange (Duck with orange sauce). Dione doesn’t quite provide all of the steps, so I offer some guidance on how to make a stock/meat glaze, how to prepare the chicken livers, and how to prep the duck for cooking.
Caneton à l’Orange (Duck with orange sauce) adapted from The Cordon Bleu Cook Book, Dione Lucas
The recipe in the book tells you to employ ½ tsp of meat glaze. I did a little research and provide a meat glaze recipe below. You can substitute demi glace if you’re not a slave to process. If you can’t find red currant jelly, stir in a few squirts of fresh lemon juice with raspberry jelly to achieve the tartness. Finally, those little nugget garnishes? Forego the orange zest as it’s just plain weird, or simply serve with mashed potatoes, a nice zippy vinaigrette on some greens would be nice, too.
Duck (about 5 lbs)
Butter, at room temperature
5 oranges
1/3 cup brandy or Marsala wine
3 finely chopped mushrooms
1 tsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp meat glaze (see stock recipe below)
3 tsp potato starch
1.5 cups of stock (I used 1 cup of duck and 1/2 cup of beef) (see recipe below)
1/4 cup red wine
1 tbsp currant jelly (see note above)
Bay leaf
Sautèed chicken livers (see recipe below)
Potato Croquettes (see recipe below)
To initiate this dish, you need to start by making a stock (see recipe below).
While the stock parts are roasting, bring a large pot of water to a boil and trim off any excess skin or fat from the duck. When the water reaches a full boil, grab the duck by the legs and place it into the boiling water, still holding the tips of the legs. After two minutes, flip the duck and submerge, holding onto the legs and bathe for 2 more minutes. Remove and place on a line-racked baking sheet. Pat dry. Using a paring knife, poke holes into the skin, especially in the fatty parts, all over the duck. Season aggressively with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Place uncovered in the refrigerator.
Meanwhile, peel one of the oranges. Remove any white pith from the rind and thinly slice the rind. Reserve. Then, into a bowl, juice the peeled orange, plus another orange. Reserve.
When the stock has been boiled down and you have your meat glaze ready, place 2 tbsp of butter in a large, stainless steel skillet over medium-high heat. When melted, place the duck breast-side down and brown - this will take about 3 minutes or so. Flip on it’s back and repeat. At this point, in a small saucepan, start heating your brandy over medium-low heat. Then, using a pair of tongs, flip the duck on its side and cook for a minute (on each side).
Place the duck onto its back in the pan and pour the warm brandy over the duck. Remove the duck back to the rack-lined baking sheet.
Return the skillet to the heat, lowering to medium-low. Add the mushrooms, sliced orange rind and season with some salt and pepper, stirring occasionally and cooking until soft, about 6-8 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 350.
Stir in the tomato paste, meat glaze, and potato starch, until no more flour is visible, about a minute. Then whisk in the reserved cup of duck stock plus a half cup of beef stock and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Then, stir in the the orange juice, red wine, and jelly, and season with salt and pepper.
While the pan stock heats up, cut your duck into 4 portions (two breasts and two leg quarters), keeping the breast bones in-tact with the meat. When the pan stock comes to a boil, place the meat into the pan, skin-side up, cover and place in the oven to roast for about an hour.
Meanwhile, supreme 2 oranges. To do this, peel the rind off an orange, removing all pith and run a paring knife down each segment wall until the citrus slice pops out, leaving the tougher membrane behind. Reserve the orange segments.
During this time, return to the chicken liver recipe for final cooking and make the potato croquettes (see below), if making.
When the duck has reached temperature (160-170), pull the pan from the oven. Place the duck on a rack-lined baking sheet. Turn on the broiler and set the duck about 8 inches beneath the broiler to finalize crisping the skin - this will take about 5 minutes, monitor closely so as to not burn the skin.
Meanwhile, set the pan over medium-high heat, stir in the sliced, cooked liver and orange segments, and reduce the sauce until thickened.
Plate the duck, spooning the sauce over the meat. Garnish with potato croquettes (or mashed potatoes) and a salad.
Duck Stock
You can use store bought stock, and use demi glace, but it won’t be fine dining quality. Your choice. I just so happened to have leftover frozen duck pieces (you should always try to save random parts for stock). If you choose to make a stock and only have chicken, that’s fine too! Using a pressure cooker really helps cut down the time - you can have stock in about 2 hrs total time.
Duck (or chicken) pieces: I used 2 necks, 4 wings and 1 carcass
Onion, Celery and Carrot
Herbs (I used rosemary, sage and parsley)
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Dry and season the duck/chicken parts with kosher salt and black pepper. Line 2 baking sheets with aluminum foil and lightly spray with cooking spray.
Place the seasoned parts on one baking sheet and place on the upper-third rack in the overn and roast for about an hour.
Meanwhile, rough chop your vegetables and place on the other baking sheet, season with salt and black pepper and roast on the lower-third rack in the oven for about 30-45 minutes.
Combine all of the roasted items and place in a pressure cooker with the herbs, more salt and black pepper, and about 8 cups of water (roughly 2/3 of the volume of your pressure cooker).
Cook under pressure for an hour. Alternatively, use a stock pot or dutch oven - the process will take about 2-3 hours or so).
While the stock reduces, start your chicken livers for the final dish - see below.
Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl. Carefully, wipe clean any bits from the pressure cooker. Reserve 1 cup of stock and pour the remainder, through the strainer again, back into the cleaned-out pressure cooker.
To make the meat glaze, simply turn the heat on high and reduce the stock to about a quarter to half a cup and it is syrupy thick. Pour into a jar and reserve for later use.
Chicken Livers
I find buying organic livers is the best way to go. Try and find the lighter colored livers from the package as the flavor is better.
Milk
4 chicken livers
Olive oil
Garlic clove, peeled and smashed
Shallot
Thyme
Butter
Soak your livers in milk for about an hour. Return to this recipe while the duck is cooking in the oven.
Drain, dry and season the livers with a bit of salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
In a small sauté pan, preheat some oil, the garlic, thinly sliced shallot and some thyme, over medium-high heat for about 2 minutes.
Make some clear space in the pan and place the livers down, flat on the cooking surface and let them cook for about 2 minutes. Then flip, add some butter and reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for about 3 minutes. After the butter melts, start spooning it over the livers to baste.
Remove from the pan and reserve.
Duck-fat fried Potato Croquettes
Dione’s recipe incorporates the grated rind of an orange to the mashed potatoes. I do not. If you like orange creamsicle-flavored potatoes, have at it. I would not recommend; it’s like one of those odd depression era dishes. Also, she recommends rolling in flour, but the potatoes also needed a little flour to stay together, so I added about 1/8 cup to the cooked potatoes.
3 russet potatoes, peeled and halved
1/4 cup warm milk
2 tbsp butter
2 eggs
Flour
Seasoned panko bread crumbs
12 oz. duck fat
Boil your potatoes, drain and using a potato ricer, smash the potatoes into a bowl. Add the warm milk, butter and 1 beaten egg. Season with salt and pepper and stir to combine. Let cool slightly.
Melt the duck fat over medium heat in a small saucepan. Whisk the remaining egg with a tbsp of water in a bowl and set aside.
When cool enough to touch, stir some flour into the potatoes. Form into nugget-sized portions. Roll in more flour to coat. Dip in the egg and roll in the breadcrumbs. Place into the hot duck fat and fry for a minute or so on each side.
Drain on a paper towel and season with salt.
___________________________________ Copyright 2021, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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